Hi Everyone, Mike is soooo right about posting queries in as many places as you can. And don't be disheartened if you don't get any responses right away. Back in late 1996 when the Erie Co. site first went online, I posted a query that listed every Erie Co. surname we then knew that connected to my husband's families. Since then, we have received several responses -- some proved not to be related to our families, but several were and we have shared info with many other researchers. Recently a descendant of Joshua Bannister contacted us after seeing our old list of surnames which is now in the Erie Co. query archives. This was very exciting for us since we had not made contact with any of his descendants before now. Joshua was the youngest brother of my husband's immigrant ancestor, Joseph Banister. Joshua lived near Joseph in the city of Erie for a while after his arrival from Derby, Derbyshire, England, in 1847. He bought a farm in Venango Township in 1855. Our new-found Bannister cousin sent us much info about Joshua and his descendants that confirmed what we had previously discovered and filled in many more blanks. We hope to meet with her and her family when we visit Erie this summer:-) Gaylene Kerr Banister Houston, TX [email protected] http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~banister/index.html